11 Stories of People Who Experienced a Glitch in the Matrix

In our everyday lives, everything seems to be debugged and familiar. But sometimes there are things that pull us out of our usual state of consciousness.

Bright Side found true stories of people who experienced a “glitch in the matrix” with phenomena that cannot be explained logically. Who knows? Maybe these weird and creepy stories are telling us that our world is just an invention of some extraneous mind.

• One evening, my wife and I were returning home from a party. When I opened the door, I saw my wife sitting at the computer and working, as she almost always is when I come home. The thing is, this time my wife came into the house with me. When we went to bed, I told her that I had seen her sitting at the computer. She became serious then and said that when I opened the door, she also saw herself sitting at the computer. WhiteZombieCat/reddit

• An unusual thing happened to me when I was in elementary school. I was standing in the hallway, punished for misbehaving, and saw my classmate walking out of a classroom, passing in front of me, and heading down the stairs. About 20 seconds later, he walked out of the same classroom, passed in front of me again, and headed down the stairs. After all these years, I still feel like Neo with his glitch in The Matrix. klsi***/reddit

• I was returning with my friends from a journey by car. My parents called and asked how far away I was. I said about a 25-minute drive. Soon after, I noticed that the moon was full — it reflected in the lake we were passing over. The road was absolutely empty. Suddenly everything went dark, and even the music in the car stopped for a split second. Then the music resumed, and the “picture” outside the window returned. The CD played from the very beginning. I thought I’d fallen asleep for a second, but then the guy who was driving said he had experienced the same thing. Stranger still were all our watches: they showed an hour more than a moment before. Musicalm***s/reddit

• I used to work at a juvenile detention center in a small town. I was working nights, and on this night I went in at 9 p.m. When I got to work, my supervisor asked me what I was doing there. I said, “I work tonight.” And he said, “But they said you called in sick a few hours ago.” I was a bit confused and said, “It must have been someone else, and they got the message wrong.” Then things got weirder.
  After I relieved the guard on duty and settled in for the night, I looked at the message that said I called in. It said that I had called at 6:50 and said that I had gotten sick. I called my wife at home. After 2 rings, a man picked up the phone and said, “Hello?” I did not know what to say for a few seconds. I said, “Hello. Who is this?” “This is Taylor. Who is this?” the person said. I was shocked. My name is Taylor! I said in almost a scream, “Where is Ann?!” He said, “Ann’s in bed. Who is this?” I ran to my car and drove home. My wife was sitting watching TV and was shocked at me being home. I asked her who was there, and she said no one. Later, I found out that the phone line for my area had been knocked down that night before by a storm. This is absolutely the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. crowhorse/reddit

• I used to have a sleep tracking app for lucid dreaming. When the time was right, a woman’s voice would say, “You are dreaming.” Then one time I was at work, and the voice from the app started saying it every few minutes. I checked out my phone, and as soon as I looked at the screen, I woke up in my bed and it was morning again. I was really freaked out. On my way to work, it all repeated. The same app voice, but now on the radio. I stopped the car and woke up again in my own bed, and it still was morning. So much for lucid dreaming. I never used that app again. COREM/reddit

• I remember that I was waiting for my train when a woman approached me and asked for money. She said her brother was in the hospital and she wanted to buy him flowers. I thought she was going to use it for a different purpose but still gave her $5. The train came along. When I was already in my seat, I saw the woman walking around the platform, asking for money from other people. The train was on schedule, and after 15 minutes I got off and immediately got on the right bus. After another 5-10 minutes, the bus approached another stop. Suddenly, exactly the same woman entered through the front door. In her hands, she had a bouquet of roses. It is completely unclear how she could have been at that time and place already with flowers. your_a_***on/reddit

• When I was a boy, my mother and I were walking in the woods near our house and taking photographs of our old car that we were going to put up for sale. Suddenly, in the bushes, something rustled, and Mom told me to run home, which I did. On the run, I heard strange sounds, as if someone was jumping over a car. I ran home in a panic, but to my surprise found my mother there, sitting at the table reading a newspaper. Later, when I was an adult, I began to question my mother cautiously about this case, but she, though remembering the old car, which we eventually sold, did not remember anything about any rustling, jumping on the car, or her presence in 2 places at the same time. BoringP***/reddit

• I had to have spinal surgery, and I was anesthetized for the operation. Then something happened that could be explained only as an out-of-body experience. I saw my body and the procedure from above. I watched my doctor knock my Game Boy off the tabletop. He picked up the batteries that fell out, but missed one. When I woke up, I told the doctor the whole thing and also where the other battery was. The doctor immediately found it. We were shocked, both of us. ScoobyD00BIEdoo/reddit

• I remember working as a seller in the fish market. One morning I woke up, got dressed, drank tea, went to the port, bought fish, and then took it to the market. I joked with colleagues and lived the usual day of a fish seller. In the evening I went home, had dinner, and went to bed. The next day I woke up to go back to the market again, but it was Saturday, and my wife was sleeping nearby. In fact, I’ve never worked in a market, especially a fish market. However, I’m still convinced that I somehow lived one day as a fish merchant. ohfail/reddit

• When I was 12, my mother left me in the truck to wait while she was shopping. I was sitting in the car when I saw this old guy passing by. He stopped a few steps from the truck and stared at me for a couple of seconds with an indescribable look. Then he just went away. A few years later, I was watching home videos from Yellowstone with my dad. Suddenly I noticed the same old guy with the same creepy look and same clothes, looking straight into the camera and at me through the TV. Parrot-Tamer/reddit

• As a child, my father teased me and my brothers by calling a toy — an orange monkey — his “beloved child” and putting it up as an example. It was an old family joke, but it annoyed us, and we always wanted to get rid of this orange monkey. One day, we stole it. We painted it with a black marker and threw it into the garbage bin. A few years later, walking down the street, I suddenly noticed something orange on the sidewalk. Approaching, I saw it was that very monkey. I was walking down the street in a completely different city, and yet here it was. matics/reddit

Which one of these stories freaked you out the most? Did you ever experience a “glitch in the matrix”? Be sure to share your stories with us!